Hey, big spenders: You can now use your Android phone to pay at contactless terminals across the UK -- unless you bank with Barclays, RBS or Natwest. Google launched its smartphone payments system Android Pay in the UK on Wednesday, eight months after it first arrived in the US. All Android phone owners will now be able to enjoy the same benefits as iPhone and Samsung users, which have had their own mobile payments systems in place for some months. Once Android Pay is set up on your phone, you'll be able to pay simply by tapping the device against any of the 460,000 contactless payment terminals across the UK.
Motorola has given its popular Moto G series a spit and polish (that's not literal spit in the photo), There are now three Moto Gs to choose from -- the standard Moto G, the Moto G Plus and the Moto G Play, the latter of which is only available in the US, The G and G Plus are physically identical, and are only separated by the beefier camera and fingerprint sensor found on the Plus, Both models will be going on sale in the UK and US in June, costing £169 for the Moto G and £199 for the G Plus, Motorola hasn't said how much they'll cost in the US or Australia, but the Moto G's price converts cat rainbow watercolor pattern iphone case to about $245 or AU$335, while the Plus' price converts to about $285 or AU$395..
Both the G and G Plus have 5.5-inch displays, which is a big boost from the 5 inches of the previous model. They run the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow software, without any cumbersome manufacturer skins applied. There's no physical home button on the front of the Moto G. This looks like a home button on the G Plus, but its only function is as a fingerprint scanner. While the Moto G has a 13-megapixel camera, the Moto G Plus has a 16-megapixel camera with laser-enabled autofocus. Even with the larger displays, I found both phones quite comfortable to hold.
The company has also built a companion app for iPhone and Android smartphones, This is where you can view all of your workout information, including route, pace, speed, lap time and altitude, The app also includes a variety of workout performance charts and lets you share information on various social networks, The strap does look a bit bulky, but it doesn't add that much weight, When paired with a Pebble Time, the strap and cat rainbow watercolor pattern iphone case watch weigh 65 grams together (about 2.2 ounces), For comparison, the Garmin Forerunner 235 weighs 42 grams, while the Apple Watch Sport weighs about 70 grams..
A Hong Kong-based company has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a "smartstrap" that aims to add up to a week of battery life to the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Steel. Powerstrap on Tuesday introduced the Pal, a $79 strap for Pebble smartwatches that extends battery life and adds GPS. Every Pebble Time smartwatch features a small accessory port on the back that can be used to extend the watch's capabilities. All you have to do is snap in one of these smart straps to add new features to your watch. In the past we have seen smart straps that add NFC for mobile payments and others that add an optical heart-rate sensor.